Me and my "masterpiece"--a view of the Old Bakery's porch, as seen from the garden and park area at one side of the building. I spent my birthday, October 25, doing something that scares me a little--painting plein air. It is comfortable and safe in the studio, I am not rushed for time, and nobody has to see me mess up. Painting outdoors, or plein air, means that I have to deal with weather, time limitations, and often LOTS of people to see me mess up. Nonetheless, I have always had a yen to challenge myself to do that which is difficult and scary. The opportunity arose when Waterloo Watercolor Group, to which I belong, wanted volunteers to paint outside the Old Bakery and Emporium, to publicize the Exhibit we had there as part of the Texas Book Festival.
Painting outdoors requires lightweight, portable equipment, and I have been collecting materials to use, and ideas from other artists for years. I have a lightweight Stanrite collapsible metal easel that tilts for watercolor painting, is adjustable for sitting or standing, is inexpensive, (and actually made in the USA)--available from Jerry's Artarama online. Some Arches and American Journey watercolor blocks supply pre-stretched paper, a Mijello watertight watercolor palette keeps my paints from running out all over everything during transport, some paper towels, pencils, erasers,brushes, a squirt bottle, and a good hat completed my kit. My family gave me a lovely collapsible cart to transport my materials to the site, so I was ready to go.
The Old Bakery and Emporium is a lovely building from the late 1800's, which is located on the corner of 11'th and Congress, across from the State Capitol. Owned by the City of Austin, it has space for changing Monthly exhibits upstairs, and a shop featuring handmade arts and crafts downstairs. Waterloo Watercolor group had a month-long exhibit there, called "For the Love of Books" which coincided with the Texas Book Festival. All the paintings in the exhibit were literature inspired, including two paintings of mine: "Hot Silence of Summer"(inspired by Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles), and "The Red Wheelbarrow II" (Inspired by the poem by William Carlos Williams.
The trick to plein air painting is to get the basics down as quickly as possible, before the light or weather changes for the worse. You cannot waste time on details. You have to simplify, and indicate things as sparely as possible, letting the viewer's eye finish the picture. To do this, I had to throw out my perfectionist instincts, and just play with the paint. It was liberating! I had a lot of fun interacting with the crowd at the Book Festival as well--they were all very kind and encouraging.
Painting outdoors requires lightweight, portable equipment, and I have been collecting materials to use, and ideas from other artists for years. I have a lightweight Stanrite collapsible metal easel that tilts for watercolor painting, is adjustable for sitting or standing, is inexpensive, (and actually made in the USA)--available from Jerry's Artarama online. Some Arches and American Journey watercolor blocks supply pre-stretched paper, a Mijello watertight watercolor palette keeps my paints from running out all over everything during transport, some paper towels, pencils, erasers,brushes, a squirt bottle, and a good hat completed my kit. My family gave me a lovely collapsible cart to transport my materials to the site, so I was ready to go.
The Old Bakery and Emporium is a lovely building from the late 1800's, which is located on the corner of 11'th and Congress, across from the State Capitol. Owned by the City of Austin, it has space for changing Monthly exhibits upstairs, and a shop featuring handmade arts and crafts downstairs. Waterloo Watercolor group had a month-long exhibit there, called "For the Love of Books" which coincided with the Texas Book Festival. All the paintings in the exhibit were literature inspired, including two paintings of mine: "Hot Silence of Summer"(inspired by Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles), and "The Red Wheelbarrow II" (Inspired by the poem by William Carlos Williams.
The trick to plein air painting is to get the basics down as quickly as possible, before the light or weather changes for the worse. You cannot waste time on details. You have to simplify, and indicate things as sparely as possible, letting the viewer's eye finish the picture. To do this, I had to throw out my perfectionist instincts, and just play with the paint. It was liberating! I had a lot of fun interacting with the crowd at the Book Festival as well--they were all very kind and encouraging.
RSS Feed